Synopses & Reviews
The people of Brazil celebrated when it was announced that they were hosting the twentieth World Cup (June 12July 13, 2014), the world's most-viewed sporting tournament, and the thirty-first Summer Olympics (August 521, 2016).
Now they are protesting in numbers the country hasn't seen in decades, with Brazilians taking to the streets to try to reclaim the sports they love but see being corrupted by powerful corporate interests, profiteering, and greed. In this compelling new book, relying on original reporting from the most dangerous corners of Rio to the halls of power in Washington, DC, Dave Zirin examines how sports and politics are colliding in remarkable fashion in Brazil, opening up an international conversation on the culture, economics, and politics of sports.
Review
"Dave Zirin has long stood on the edge of the sports writing world, exploding topics many of his colleagues are scared to approach. With Brazil's Dance with the Devil, he puts to bed any notion that the IOC and FIFA have the best interests of their host countries at heart. Brazil is a special country and Dave Zirin honors its people and history while mercilessly going after those who would undermine its people. This book is a remarkable mix of investigative sports journalism and insightful social history." Glenn Greenwald, author, No Place to Hide
Review
"In a sports journalism landscape where it sometimes seems there are only those who fawn and those who pander, where curiosity about the world at large is in short supply, Zirin is an altogether different kind of presence. He does care, until it hurts, and consistently delivers unique takes on the nexus of sports and race, globalization, politics and human rights. In Brazil's Dance with the Devil, Zirin's at his best, on familiar and fertile ground. Like so much of his work, its incisive, heartbreaking, important and even funny." Jeremy Schaap, ESPN, author of New York Times bestseller Cinderella Man
Review
For years, FIFA and the Brazilian government have failed to understand the complexity of the Brazilian populace, that its possible both to love soccer and to be outraged over the organization of the World Cup at the expense of the people. Dave Zirin, one of our great chroniclers of sports and society, spent time on the ground in Brazil interviewing those most affected by the Brazilian World Cup and Olympics, and he comes away with the truth of it all: That the brutal expense of these Mega-events isn't worth the investment of so much public money and historical memory. Everyone who watches the World Cup should read this book.” Grant Wahl, senior writer, Sports Illustrated
Synopsis
The leading US commentator on the politics of sports explores the coming World Cup and beyond.
Synopsis
One of the Boston Globe's "Best Sports Books of 2014" As the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games approach, ordinary Brazilians are holding the country's biggest protest marches in decades. Sports journalist Dave Zirin traveled to Brazil to find out why. In a rollicking read that travels from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the fabled Maracana Stadium, Zirin examines how athletic mega-events turn into neoliberal Trojan horses.
About the Author
Dave Zirin is the sports editor for the Nation and the author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down. Named one of UTNE Readers Fifty Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” Zirin is a frequent guest on MSNBC, ESPN, and Democracy Now! He also hosts the weekly Sirius XM show Edge of Sports Radio and has been called "the best sportswriter in the United States," by Robert Lipsyte. He lives near Washington, DC.